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Mystery man in mystery house

By adamg on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 10:53am
House in old Boston

The folks at the Boston City Archives wonder if you can place this photo. See it larger.

And we wonder if you can ID the guy who was hanging out the window when the photo was taken:

Mystery man in mystery building in Boston
Neighborhoods: 
Boston
Topics: 
History


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Comments

By Bill on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 11:04am.

Wow, imagine living like this today. Barbed wire, rocking horse on the fire escape (or rampway it is), trashy alleys. Boston inspectional services would have a hay day!

By anon on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 12:10pm.

I guess you've never been to Allston

By SW on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 2:12pm.

That's Giuseppe calling out his brother Maurizio , telling him the pasta is ready!!!
This is the north end, Boston - post mollases tank explosion ,wooden building still up!!

By Rob on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 3:37pm.

This looks like circa 1927..
This could be the area of Gove & Orleans St's East Boston just by looking at the wide street and the brick buildings in background.
This is definatly Orleans St East Boston.

By bulgingbuick on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 11:14am.

good!

By Law_Ren on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 11:35am.

Ryan Seacrest?

By Grant Young on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 11:48am.

Clues galore hiding there... Derelict gas lamp, but wires into the building (electricity?) Cobbled streets, retail on ground floor across the street. Wooden building attached to a brick building. West End, 1920s? I'll just posit Leonard Nimoy's dad as a young man.

By Rob on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 3:14pm.

I couldn't make out the sign on the side of the building or anything on the glass or the door of the shop across the street.

Due to recent events, I was thinking of West End and Leonard Nimoy as well.

By Lanny Budd on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 11:56am.

!

By mlm on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 11:59am.

pretty certain that's a young Jimmy Smits in the window.

By APB on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 12:19pm.

But he had a privileged upbringing (Phillips Academy, Harvard). Staged photo?

By violetkris on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 2:22pm.

I'm going to guess it's JFK's father, Joseph P. Kennedy. Location: Somewhere in East Boston.

By alabb on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 2:42pm.

Norman B. Leventhal, R.I.P.

By AdamL on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 3:06pm.

He started from nothing and made a fortune.

By downtown-anon on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 3:26pm.

Torn down as "slums".

By FenRes on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 3:47pm.

JFK's grandad, not dad. Since Rose was born in the North End in 1890 just before her dad was first elected to city council, I'm guessing the Noth End as location.

By Ed on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 7:06pm.

Salem St 1920's?

By Charles Bahne on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 10:47pm.

Adam hasn't posted it yet, but the ArchivesBoston Twitter page has identified the answer as "the back of 316 North Street on 12/17/1930."

Courtesy of Ward Maps, here's a map of the area in 1928:
http://www.wardmaps.com/viewasset.php?aid=7230

A similar map from a few years later shows that the buildings in the foreground were all demolished in the early 1930s to make way for a ventilator building for the Sumner Tunnel:
http://www.wardmaps.com/viewasset.php?aid=4816

But the buildings in the background, on the far side of North Street, survive today. Here's a view from Google Maps:
http://goo.gl/maps/fhCyc

No word on who the guy in the window was.

By Boston City Archives on Mon, 04/06/2015 - 11:00pm.

Thanks for playing folks! This is the rear of 316 North Street on December 17, 1930. We don't know who the man in the window is, but we would love to find out!